In the world of email marketing, there are protections put in place to keep individuals safe from spam.
These protections are easily avoidable with email marketing best practices, but if you get lazy with your list hygiene, or don’t even know better, you can find yourself in trouble.
Enter spam traps and blacklists.
Spam Traps
Spam traps are usually email addresses that are created not for communication, but rather to hunt spam.These addresses are put in a place where a computerized email address reaper (utilized by spammers) can discover them. These reapers are used to harvest email addresses for lists that are then sold. However, no sender would be urged to send messages to these spam email addresses for any authentic reason. Since Spam Traps are created by ISPs, they have not requested to join a mailing list. Any email messages sent to this address are promptly considered as unsolicited.Essentially, spam traps are email addresses used solely for identifying spammers and email marketers who have not kept their lists up-to-date. These are differentiated by the type of spam trap.Pristine Traps are emails that are distributed on public websites, yet concealed so an ordinary client could never observe them. The main individuals who find and send to those addresses are the users who utilize bad collection processes, such as scratching the web for everything that resembles an email address. In the case you got addresses by harvesting them from pages—or purchased a list, which regularly incorporates scratched email addresses—you may have grabbed a Pristine Spamtrap. The presence of Pristine Spam Traps on an email list indicates questionable address acquisition methods. Repeatedly sending to a Pristine Spamtrap causes the sender’s IP reputation to drop and as a result, mail may be blocked.Recycled Traps are email tends to that were utilized by genuine individuals before, wound up plainly relinquished, and sooner or later were changed over into a trap by the inbox supplier. At the point when an email is not utilized any longer, the inbox provider will deactivate it after a specific time. Recycled spam traps, while less impactful than pristine spam traps, can still cause severe damage to sender reputation and inbox placement. Recycled spam traps on an email list point to questionable list hygiene practices.
Blacklist Domains
Blacklists contain list of IPs or domains that represent a risk to recipients inboxes. Your ESP may consequently alarm you in the case you’re added to one, yet it’s great to check for yourself. If you are on a blacklist, act quickly. Only a couple of spam complaints can add a true legitimate sender to a blacklist.All blacklists have distinctive methods for deciding if a sender ought to be recorded. Yet, every one of them utilizes some blend of spam traps and recipient feedback. Many blacklist operators oversee expansive systems of spam traps (email addresses that are valid, however, have never opted in to receive mail or addresses that have been idle for an expanded timeframe and should never again be accepting email). The blacklist administrators will screen these addresses and blacklist any IPs or domains that send excessive amounts of mail to them.Staying on top of your reputation by routinely observing your presence on blacklists and dissecting your engagement metrics can help clear your way to the inbox.
Conclusion
Gaining an understanding of the possible obstacles in your way will help you avoid them.Learn about the pitfalls of spam traps and how an email marketer may find his or herself blacklisted.Keep a great list and set yourself up for email marketing success.
Cloudbric also provides a free IP reputation service; head over to labs.cloudbric.com to learn more.